Gun-charge indicator



G K PHEATT GUN CHARGE INDICATOR.

(No Model.)

No. 439,551. Patented 0012.28, 1890.

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WITNESSES A TTOHNE rs' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GIDEON K. PI-IEATT, OF TOLEDO, ouIo.

GUN-CHARGE INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 439,551, dated October 28, 1890.

Application filed April 5,1890.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GIDEON K. PHEATT, of Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Gun- Oharge Indicator, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in a device for indicating whether or not a gun is loaded; and the objectof my invention is to provide a simple and convenient device that will accurately indicate both to the sight and to the touch Whether or not a gun contains a cartridge, thereby obviating the many accidents occasioned by the discharge of guns that are not supposed to be loaded.

To this end my invention consists in providing the gun with pins that will not appear when the gun-barrel is empty and that will project from the upper and lower surface of the gun when the barrel contains ashell. This construction will be hereinafter fully described, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a broken vertical longitudinal section of a loaded gun provided with my attachment; Fig. 2, the same View, butwith the gun unloaded; Fig. 3,a vertical cross-section on the line a: to of Fig. 2, looking toward the butt of the gun; and Fig.4, avertical cross-section on the line or (I? of Fig. 2,100king into the barrels.

I have shown my invention as applied to a double-barrel breech-loading shotgun; but it may be applied to a single-barrel gun as well, or to any sort of a fire-arm using a cartridge.

Extending vertically through the breechframe A, directly beneath the junction of the barrel B with the breech-block O, is a bore a, in which the pin 6 is vertically movable. The pinb extends upwardly through said bore and through a groove 61 of the shell-ejector D, it being partially incased in a groove 6 in the lower edge of the face of the breech-block O. The pin 5 is of such a length that when pushed up into the grooves cl and e the lower end of the pin will be above the lower surface of the breech-frame A, and when the upper Serial No. 346,710- (No model.)

"end of the pin is forced downwardly to a level with the lower part of the barrel B the lower end of the pin will project below the lower surface of the breech-frame.

A lever f is pivoted to the breech-frame A in the groove A of the frame. The forward end of the lever is dovetailed into the side of the pin 19, as shown in Fig. 3, and the rear end of the lever is pivoted to the lower end of the pin g, which extends upwardly into a vertical slot or bore 77. through the upper portion of the frame A. The pin 9 has an annular shoulder g thereon, and coiled around the pin between the shoulder and the top of the pin is a spiral spring '6, one end of which bears against the top of the shoulder g and the other against the under side of the upper shell of the frame A, so that the pressure of the spring will normally hold the pin in a depressed position with the upper end of the pin below the upper surface of the breechframe.

The shoulder g' should be far enough from the top of the ping'to allow the top of the pin to be forced above the upper surface of the frame A. I have described the device as ap plied to one of the barrels A; but as the gun is double-barreled it will of course be applied to both barrels.

The breech-frame A, barrels B, breech-block O, and shell-ejector D are of the usual con= struction and need no description.

The device operates as follows: When a shell E is inserted in the barrel B and the barrel snapped into position, the rim of the shell will strike upon the top of the pin 1)- and push the pin downwardly in the bore a, so that the lower end of the pin will project below the lower surface of the frame A, and as the pin descends it will tilt the lever depressing the forward end and raising the rear end of the lever, thus forcing the pin g upwardly, so that the top of the pin will project above the upper surface of the breechframe. The presence of a shell in the barrel will therefore be indicated by the pins band g, which may be plainly seen and felt, so that a person may always know when the gun is loaded.

When the shellis removed from the barrel, the spring 11 will depress the pin g, which will actuate the lever f and lift the pin 1), so that both the upper and lower surface. of .the breech-frame Will be smooth.

I do not confine myself to the use of both the pins 1) and g or to the particular arrangement of the parts described, as they may be modified and changed Without departing from the principle of my invention. From the foregoing description it will be seen that my attachment is applied to the parts common to all breech-loading fire-arms, and that it may therefore be easily applied to the various styles.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters tion of a shell will actuate the pins and cause them to project from two sides of the fire-arm, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a fire-arm, of a pin projecting through a bore in the breechframe and into the lower portion ofthe barrel, a lever pivoted in the breech-frame and connected with said pin, and an upwardlyprojecting .pin attached to the other end of the lever and vertically movable in a bore of the breech-frame, so that the insertion of a shell in the barrel will actuate said pins'and cause them to project from the outer surface of the fire-arm, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with afire-arm having a transverse hole in the barrel and the breechframe having a bore aligning with the hole in the barrel and a bore opening through the opposite side of the breech-frame, of a pin mounted in a bore of the breech-frame and extending into the hole in the barrel, a lever pivoted in the breech-frame and connected With the pin, and a spring-pressed pin attached to the opposite end of the lever and adapted to extend outwardly through the opposite bore of the breech-frame, substantially as described.

GIDEON K. PHEATT. Witnesses:

CURTIS T. JOHNSON, J AS. H. PHEATT. 

